The evil called outsourcing

The true worth of labour of most banking staff in the country remains an intriguing poser in view of the denigrating recruitment process most banks in the country have in place. The banks do so under the guise of outsourcing staff so as to cut cost. But the trend has created a Frankenstein monster styled as contract staff/casual labour and usually at the detriment of those recruited. The policy gives no career security, commitment or fulfilment to victims but favours just two parties – the outsourcing firms and the banks.

The above was aptly amplified by the reported pathetic case of one Mrs. Dorothy Anya Igwe who was outsourced to an unnamed bank in Ojo area of Lagos State. Her story: She fell ill while on official duty and got official permission from the outsourcing company to visit the approved hospital. After getting well, she got a medical report of fitness from the approved hospital that she tendered on resumption of duty.

But to her chagrin, her salary for the duration of her illness from April to September, 2014, was stopped. Her complaints reportedly led to her being relieved of duty. She was recalled months after but finally sacked after her continuing insistence that she must be paid her arrears of salary. Igwe was left in the lurch by the outsourcing company and the bank that denied her and also failed to pay her arrears of salary. There are several unreported examples of Igwe-type ill-treatment in the banking industry.

Perhaps, it is high time the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) beamed its klieg-light on all reported labour abuses by the banks through this inhuman staff outsourcing. The policy is even insensitive to the peculiar nature of banking business as strategic positions such as bank secretary, operations officer, vehicle/ bullion van drivers and security operatives are among others that are outsourced from designated companies.

These outsourced staff handle vital information in bank/customer relations and bank operations’ secrets that could easily be compromised since outsourced staff owe no allegiance or commitment to the banks. They can leak sensitive information that could give impetus to fraudsters’ operations against banks or which could lead to armed robbery attacks against the banks, with insider connection. The risks for banks involved in this oppressive recruitment approach lacks rational economic sense for its continuation.

We therefore call on the CBN to come out and state clearly whether or not it supports this exploitative outsourcing of staff in banks and other companies in the nation. The Ministry of Labour and Productivity seems to have failed in setting the policy template necessary to improve employment conditions by discouraging discrimination among staff, not only in the banks but in other big corporate entities as well. Quite unfathomable is the fact that workers in the country are in the doldrums. It is unimaginable that the CBN and the labour ministry will tolerate an outsourcing employment regime that gives no conditions of service and where the outsourcing firms, apart from paid consultancy service fee running into millions, also get a huge percentage from the salaries of the contract workers every month.

Most banks declare huge profits annually, and based on what they declare, they should be able to employ desirable staff and pay them respectable remuneration, not the trifle under the guise of staff outsourcing that is known as a strategy adopted by companies in distress to cut staff cost and rationalise departments and operations.

We know that some banks in some other countries have adopted outsourcing of staff as a cost-saving measure, the point is that their environments are different from ours: labour does not come cheap in some of these countries unlike here where labour is relatively cheap. Moreover, people who are not getting commensurate pay cannot be said to be employed in the real sense of the word; they are therefore susceptible to all the temptations that the unemployed are exposed to.

What we are saying is that staff outsourcing is cruel, improper and uncivilised, not only in banks but in all entities that want the public to see them as respectable.